Manual gearbox stuffed

[newgirl]

My prado GXL is about 5years old, and has only done 60,000klm, but today it wouldn't go into 1st gear. I have often had problems with reverse, but with persistance it went in, but know I simply cannot move in 1st gear, but have to take off in 2nd gear! (Not good). The mechanic says it is not the selector but an internal problem. Does anyone know if this is a toyota fault? The car hasn't even done 100,000klms and am up for a new gearbox? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

[pinzvidz]

My prado GXL is about 5years old, and has only done 60,000klm, but today it wouldn't go into 1st gear. I have often had problems with reverse, but with persistance it went in, but know I simply cannot move in 1st gear, but have to take off in 2nd gear! (Not good). The mechanic says it is not the selector but an internal problem. Does anyone know if this is a toyota fault? The car hasn't even done 100,000klms and am up for a new gearbox? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

Sigh... have you spoken to a Toyota dealer or TMCA about this at all yet? Or are you relying on a backyard mechanic to tell you what the right thing is to do. You're not up for a new gearbox, it will need a very minor overhaul to replace a failed part(s). Obviously there is a problem with either a linkage or a synchro ring.

Have you owned it from new, and have you had the vehicle serviced regulary? If yes, take it to a Toyota dealer, ask for them to take a look at it. They will have to remove the gearbox, disassemble and inspect it. After the dealer has worked out the problem, the next step will be for them to contact Toyota Australia on your behalf and request an out of warranty consideration. Toyota might pay for the whole thing to be fixed, or maybe they'll just pay for the parts only or a portion of the parts.

btw, you say you had problems selecting reverse as well? It's always a good idea in a manual vehicle to select first (when it was available) before selecting reverse to allow the synchros to line up/slide smoothly...

[Hiro]

btw, you say you had problems selecting reverse as well? It's always a good idea in a manual vehicle to select first (when it was available) before selecting reverse to allow the synchros to line up/slide smoothly...

Correct, but false. You don't shift into first before reverse to line the synchros up because reverse doesn't have synchromesh. You do it because unlike the forward gears, which are helical cut, reverse is straight-cut, and thus if the teeth don't line up exactly the gears won't mesh. You shift into first or second to use their helical cut teeth to rotate the input shaft (which is disconnected from the engine by the clutch) slightly so that the teeth have a better chance of lining up.